I've been following this thread closely because I'm dealing with a very similar situation right now. My business partner (also a foreign national) asked me to help with their EIN application last month, and I'm now wondering if I made the same mistake you did. One thing I want to add that hasn't been mentioned yet - if your friend's LLC is registered at the state level, make sure the responsible party information matches between the state registration and the federal EIN. Having mismatched information between state and federal records can create additional complications down the road, especially if there are ever any audits or compliance issues. Also, while you're getting this sorted out, I'd recommend documenting everything in writing. Keep copies of all forms you file, notes from phone calls with the IRS (including dates, times, and the names of representatives you spoke with), and any correspondence you receive. If there are ever questions later about who the actual business owner is, having a clear paper trail will be invaluable. The fact that you're catching this early is really good - I've heard horror stories of people not realizing this mistake until tax season, which creates much bigger headaches. Good luck getting it resolved!

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm actually in a similar situation where I helped a friend apply for an EIN and I'm now worried I might have made the same mistake. One thing I wanted to add that I learned from my accountant - if you're listed incorrectly as the responsible party, it's not just about tax liabilities. It can also affect your personal credit if the business has any issues with the IRS down the line. The responsible party designation creates a legal connection between you and the business entity that goes beyond just taxes. Also, for anyone dealing with this issue, I'd suggest reaching out to the person you helped ASAP to make them aware of the situation. They need to understand that until this gets corrected, they might not receive important IRS correspondence about their business, which could lead to missed deadlines or penalties. In my case, my friend had no idea there was an issue until I told him, and by then we'd already missed a quarterly filing notice that came to me instead of him. The sooner everyone involved understands the scope of the problem, the faster you can work together to get it resolved properly.

It might be worth asking your grandparents to spread out larger gifts if they're planning to give you more than the annual limit. My parents paid off $25,000 of my loans in one year and had to file a gift tax form even though they didn't owe any actual tax!

This is such helpful information for anyone dealing with family help on student loans! One thing I'd add is to make sure your grandparents are aware that the $18,000 annual exclusion is per recipient, per giver. So if they're also helping other grandchildren with education expenses, they need to track all their gifts to stay under the limits for each person. Also, it's worth keeping simple records of the payments even though you don't need to report them - just in case the IRS ever has questions down the road. A simple spreadsheet showing dates and amounts should be sufficient. Your loan servicer statements will also show where the payments came from, which provides good documentation. You're really fortunate to have such generous grandparents! This kind of help can save you thousands in interest over the life of the loans.

This is such a timely question! I went through an audit two years ago and can confirm that the IRS absolutely accepts both digital and physical receipts. What saved me was having everything organized beforehand. One thing I learned is that the IRS cares more about the completeness of information than the format. Every receipt needs to show: date of transaction, amount paid, description of goods/services, and vendor information. Whether it's a crumpled paper receipt or a PDF email confirmation doesn't matter as long as these details are clear. Regarding third-party verification - they didn't contact any of my vendors during my audit, but my tax preparer warned me that they could if they wanted to. It's more likely to happen with larger deductions or if something seems suspicious. For routine business expenses under a few hundred dollars, they typically just rely on your documentation. My advice: scan or photograph your physical receipts as soon as you get them (while they're still legible), and save digital receipts in a dedicated folder. The thermal paper that many receipts are printed on fades over time, so having a digital backup is crucial even for physical receipts.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! As someone who's been putting off organizing my tax records, I'm realizing I need to get serious about this before tax season hits. One question I haven't seen addressed yet - what about receipts from mobile payment apps like Venmo, PayPal, or Cash App? I use these for a lot of business expenses, especially when paying contractors or splitting costs with business partners. The transaction history shows the amount and date, but often doesn't have detailed descriptions of what was purchased. Should I be taking screenshots of these transactions and adding my own notes about what they were for? Or is the basic transaction record from the app sufficient as long as I can explain the business purpose? Also, for anyone who mentioned using receipt scanning apps - do you scan receipts immediately or do you have a system where you batch them weekly/monthly? I'm trying to figure out the most realistic approach that I'll actually stick to!

Great discussion here! I wanted to add one more important consideration that could affect your situation - make sure to check if your husband's previous employer had any "grace period" provisions for the FSA he contributed to earlier in the year. Some employers offer a 2.5 month grace period (through March 15th of the following year) to spend remaining FSA funds, while others allow up to $640 to carry over to the next plan year. If his previous employer had either of these provisions, it could create additional coordination issues with HSA eligibility that go beyond just the contribution limits. The IRS considers you "covered" by an FSA during any grace period or carryover period, which could potentially affect HSA eligibility even after starting the new job with the HDHP. This is definitely something worth checking on - you might want to review his previous employer's FSA plan documents or contact their benefits department to clarify what happens to any unused FSA balance. Also, since you mentioned he doesn't have 401k matching at the new job, the HSA becomes an even more valuable tax-advantaged savings vehicle. HSAs are actually triple tax-advantaged (deductible contributions, tax-free growth, and tax-free withdrawals for qualified expenses), making them potentially better than traditional retirement accounts for healthcare planning.

This thread has been incredibly helpful! I'm dealing with a similar situation and wanted to share what I learned from my CPA about the grace period issue that Talia mentioned. You're absolutely right that FSA grace periods can affect HSA eligibility timing. In my case, my previous employer's FSA had a grace period through March 15th, which meant I couldn't start HSA contributions until April even though I enrolled in an HDHP in February. The IRS considers you "covered" by the FSA during the entire grace period, regardless of whether you actually have funds left to spend. However, there's one potential workaround - if the previous FSA balance was completely exhausted before the new HDHP coverage began, some tax professionals argue that the grace period doesn't create a disqualifying coverage issue. But this is a gray area and you'd definitely want to document everything carefully and possibly get professional tax advice. One more tip for Jeremiah - since you're trying to maximize tax benefits without 401k matching, consider that HSA funds can be invested in mutual funds or other growth investments once your balance reaches a certain threshold (usually $1,000-$2,000 depending on the HSA provider). This lets you treat it like an additional retirement account for future healthcare costs, which tend to be significant in retirement.

Just to throw this out there - I know someone who bought an old school bus, renovated it as an office, and successfully deducted it as business equipment with Section 179. The key was they registered it as commercial equipment rather than a passenger vehicle. Might be worth looking into.

This is a fascinating situation! I've been following the discussion and wanted to add that you should also consider the Mixed-Use property rules. Even though you're using the RV 100% for business, the IRS might still view it as having potential personal use capability since it's technically a habitable vehicle. I'd recommend documenting not just your business use, but also any modifications you've made that would make it less suitable for personal/recreational use. For example, if you've removed sleeping facilities, cooking equipment, or made other permanent changes that clearly establish it as office space only, that strengthens your case for business-only classification. Also, keep detailed records of all utilities you're paying for (electricity hookup, internet, etc.) as these ongoing operational costs are definitely deductible business expenses regardless of how you classify the RV itself. Sometimes the ongoing operational deductions can be more valuable than trying to depreciate the asset, especially if there's any uncertainty about the asset classification. The zoning point that Jamal made is crucial too - you want to make sure you're compliant on all fronts before claiming any deductions.